what i'm wearing...

i must admit...i love when you ladies put together your style or what i'm wearing posts...

i have decided to jump on board and join the fun...

afterall...it's a good way to keep my look fresh and put a little more effort into it if i will

be sharing what i'm wearing...

so here it is...or rather...here i am...

i call this my birthday dress only because i wore it on my birthday shopping in san diego...

it had the wow factor in that when i walked out of the bedroom at the hotel into

the living room where mr c was...i got a big ol' wow!...

it's girly, ruffly and frilly...the 3 most important qualities in a dress in my book

today i wore it to run errands with my 3 little monkeys...

it's humid outside and only 94 degrees so i thought i would be the right

choice for a day that would be in and out of the car running to the library, grocery

store and of course, to starbucks...

the dress: urban outfitters in san diego {scored on sale for $30}

...

i paired it with my fav belt from target {scored on clearance for about 6 bucks}

...

the shoes: tory burch ballet flats {ok...they are pricey but sooo worth it...most comfortable flats of my life...and mr c just bought the black ones for my birthday...they are $195 and worth every penny...pinky promise}

.....

i must also mention that when i had this dress on in san diego...my slip did a peek a boo and showed itself...when mr c pointed it out to me so that i might fix it...his 15 year old daughter asked me what a slip was...i was floored...do girls these days really not know the importance of a slip?...

i never leave home without mine...does that make me sound old or what?

want to see what my sister is wearing...check her here

celebrating mikey...

....in a very low key way. it's been a few years since i have

thrown a birthday party for mikey. he has sort of outgrown them, but i do like to

recognize the day in a few special ways. i never want him or any of my children to look back and feel that their days were ordinary ones.

so..our day was scheduled by this guy. my teenager. i feel old just typing that...my teenager.

we had lunch at his favorite...and my favorite...p.f.changs...have you had their crispy green beans?...a m a z i n g to say the least.

mikey sat like this...with his head resting on the table playing on his itouch which was

his birthday gift this year...teenagers.

after lunch, we dropped mr c off at work and the kids and i headed over to

see the movie the sorcerer's apprentice...mikey's choice

we loved it...go see it...'nuff said.

.....

after our movie...sister and her boys headed over for a good ol' fashioned family party.

nothing beats a family party in my book...

the plan was to grill italian sausage for dinner...

i canceled that when the pouring rain made a visit and

soaked my new shoes and bag...not very nice...i had

not been to the market to pick up the sausage yet so we went to plan b:

we ordered pizza.

you can never go wrong with pizza at a birthday party.

none of the kids complained.

neither did the adults...even if it was just sister and myself as the adults

we made a kids only table...

we just used items from the craft pantry and added a few jars filled with candy...

the kids like it when the grown ups arent allowed to sit at the special table

it's kind of the 'im too old for birthday decor but i still want a little decor to celebrate' theme

sister caught some photos of the foxy birthday stud and myself...

do you know how hard it is to get this guy to even look at my camera?...

it would be easier to birth another baby without an epidural.

on second thought...maybe not...im strictly an epidural kind of girl...


what do you think of my new bangs...i went for the long sweepy

sexy bangs look last week...im still getting used to them...

i think they have magical powers of persuasion over mr c...i've gotten away with a few things

that make me believe this were true...

how about a funky photo...

so i offered to slave away in the kitchen for an entire

afternoon baking the cake of my boy's dreams but he begged and pleaded

for an ice cream cake from baskin and robbins

or maybe it was me who wanted the ice cream cake...

so i did what any good mother would do and put away all of the

ingredients for the homemade cake and headed out the door to buy one...

mikey asked for a vanilla cake with chocolate ice cream...

i brought home a chocolate cake with oreo ice cream...

should not have gone to pick up the cake with an empty belly and menstrual cravings for

chocolate in high gear

no one complained

so i didn't bake the cake but i did place all 13 candles on my own...

that counts for something, right
.....

i love this photo below...the kid was seriously thinking about what to wish for...almost as if he

knew it was going to come true

.....

i made a wish too...still waiting to see if it comes true

hands down... my favorite photo of this guy...peace out x's two

i am that mom who snuck a cheeky kiss on my boy...and i promised him i would not post it on

my blog...oops...youneversawthisphoto...

hope your birthday was as special as you mikey boy...

♥mom

thirteen...

last saturday, i turned 35...a pretty substantial age in my book.

today, my first born, mikey turns 13...

another very substantial age in my book.

my first teenager.

i was not ready for this...it happened way too fast.

i remember very well turning 13. i started thinking for myself and discovering interests on my own and my relationships with my parents changed. i remember thinking that my parents were so old. i checked with mikey earlier to see if he thought of me as old and he said no. that eased my mind a little bit because i am pretty weird about that whole getting older gig. i don't mind it...i just am not sure how to handle it yet...what am i too old for and too young for...i'm right in the middle of that.

anyway...back to my birthday boy.

this kid is so great. he's smart...so smart. i have him do fast math for me in target all of the time. he computes really fast in his head...he did not get that from me. i still rely on my fingers to help me out sometimes. no joke there, sister.
this kid is also very analytical and logical...if something doesn't make sense to him...he works it out in his head until it does. his mind is not lazy by any means. i am grateful for that. that will be key in him being successful.

he is my first born. the one that i made most mistakes with as a first time mother. he is my trial and error kid in ways. he is a great older brother...and landon is convinced that mikey hung the moon.

he holds interst in the beach, creating his stop motion videos, constructing lego masterpieces, family, beef jerky, football, the patriots and the steelers, chocolate ice cream, nike kicks, fox racing sports hats and star wars.

this is seriously the coolest kid....that's exactly what my dad would say about mikey if he were still here with us.

he starts 8th grade in just 2 weeks. he only has 5 years left of schooling before he heads off to M I T to be a famous engineer....that's my plan for him anyway...we'll see what he thinks of it when it gets closer...

happy 13th birthday mikey.

i love you more than all the stars in the sky.

you are the coolest kid around.

love, mom

beachy...

so...our summer vacation came and went...

and now i feel like i can check the best part of summer off of the list,

and everything else just becomes a bonus.

our entire family looks forward to one thing all summer:

our beach trip to san diego

{that and my birthday!!}

this year was a little unique in that we had mr c's children for the entire month of july

so they were able to head with us to mission beach

i am still recovering from a month with 6 kids plus various friends/cousins and the like in and out of our home...

we stay at the same hotel every time we visit

the kids love the ducks that wonder freely and the talking parrots that repeat every word...even the bad ones

we have our favorite spots to eat at

and...
our favorite area of the beach to set up camp for the day
can you imagine how much gear the 9 of us toted around each day
did i mention that on top of mr c and i and our 6 kids, we also brought their cousin with us?

the photo above is mikey and mr c's little guy trevor waiting for the girls to get off of the roller coaster on our first night in town...



the photo below is morgan right after we unloaded from the 5 1/2 hour drive with her flawless hair...

unfortunately, we had issues with our hotel suite on the first day...lets just say that somebody who stayed there before us got sick and left their mark all over the living room floor...
we were grateful to be upgraded to the 11th floor in a bigger suite with views like the one below

mr c...i could stare at the view of his backside all day

this year was a very low key trip...

we didnt plan any excursions or trip to theme parks since there were so many of us.

we spent lots of time on the beach and at the bay

and i was able to spend my 35th birthday in my favorite place

i had morgan take the above photo to prove that i was actually there on vacation with my family...seems that the one who always snaps the photos doesn't make it into them much

landon is my beach boy

this kid is going to end up living on the beach

maybe as a surfer or life guard

he is totally at home in the sand

on our first night...we walked down to luigi's pizza for this:

the biggest pizza i have ever seen...and seriously so good.

the photo below might be one of my favorites from this trip...landon just got in trouble for trying to sneak back into the water while we were eating lunch...he has the best pouty face

see mikey below...he turns 13 tomorrow!

i have my first teenager...not sure i am ready for that

not sure if i can wait an entire year to go back...

i love the feeling of being in the salty air and throwing the schedule out the window.

my kids start back to school in 2 weeks...

i think summer has gone by too fast this time and i'm a little mad at that...

we are going to squeeze as much into these last 14 days as we can.